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I think it's all in the title of this thread, forums ARE in decline, you will be hard pressed to find any that are improving year on year,

and it IMHO, all comes down to that great human falibility, of the grass always being greener, and as pointed out earlier in the thread, it is SO much easier to be online nowadays, malware aside, there are now in excess of one BILLION PC's using the internet, all due to broadband helping to make the experience so much more immersive,

and forums are anything BUT immersive, here we can ask, and answer questions.
two dimensional at its most annoying

Social networking sites will too, have had their day in the sun soon, as the latest and greatest comes along, as people are fickle in the extreme, the only things I believe any human can be reliably expected to stick to come what may, are cigerettes :shock:

but they have allowed an entire generation to get online and generate absolute GARBAGE, things that we [forums] will routinely delete as SPAM or worse, with usernames and accounts also being chopped away to help keep the forums FOCUS on ..........

I am admin on several forums, each one different in style content size and popularity, but all connected by the downturn in forum usage

something that will never now, be returned

Oh yeah, been away a year and what a shitty year it has been too, now sitting here with a badly fractured knee, and a trashed motorcycle, single handedly trying to up the post count on every forum I am on

55 - I'm fiftyfeckinfive and STILL no wiser,
OLDER yes
Beware of Geeks bearing GIF's
come and waste the day :P at The Taz Zone

I joined AO back when i was like 15. I found this site off the back of some book about ethical hacking, cant really remember. I was new to the computer world then, and had alot of questions, and problems for that matter. Once you guys pointed me in the right direction, I kinda went off and did my own thing and every now and again id pop in and help with someone elses problems, or put my 2 cent here and there. I view these forums as gold mines for information. I view the community, at leasts its most active and oldest members, as the guruus of the computer world. I can honestly say if not for most of you guys here i wouldnt know nearly as much as i do now or have solved as many problems as i have solved thus far. I would love to personally sit under you guys and learn everything you know. I appreciate these forums and the members in it and i would hate to see it go.

I've currently recommended we institute a "Gaming" section for the people who play games and have issues. It's not ALL Security based obviously, but some forums for that, are so crap it's not worth looking at them. My Wife plays WoW, and those forums are like "Hey y'all! Come on in dis heer internetmajiggy and powst ur dog waffles' favrit soop"....

In other words some of the dumbest people I've ever had to look at, go there. Also, the forums have a bunch of unwashed miscreants who want your account password to sell off. My Wife gets messages all the time, which are links to click on at risk, because it steals account info. Basically, people click on a link they saw like "Hey, click on this link and go look at our WoW stuff, and sign in with your WoW account to enter and win prizes!!!!!!!!!!!!@!@!#@!@" and of course, it just steals the account log in information, and takes all your crap.

People will say on there all the time their account was "hacked" and that Blizzard is taking forever to fix it. Basically, they sell something you can buy, that SHOULD come with the game because it uses a random number of some sorts to help make logging in more safe and secure, but they charge for it, and it should come with the game.

It doesn't, so, a lot of people have security problems with it, and it's not like that is the only game where people run into security problems... I also figured people could post their specs for their Gaming Machines, and talk about Upgrades / Tweaks/ Other stuff Computer Related or Gaming Related.

We could also have cheats on there since a lot of non online games allow cheats so you can see advanced levels, or, just test out a new trick. Sort of like DooM and Quake Speed Runs. Just that they'd be under our jurisdiction.

I think we need to reach out with more Media style stuff too, which would easily get people posting about a new song they like (Most Hackers Love Music, and Making it, so understanding how Music Creation works isn't all that far stretched from us now) and being that I too make music, and so does my Wife, I wouldn't have any issue uploading some stuff I've done.

We also have a lot of people here who like Video stuff. Not just Video Editing, but Video production too, and that could be tapped as well.

And right now, the same Buzz Words we've heard for a decade about "MultiMedia PCs" are still there! Why not tap into it? Everyone who has a computer talks about Multi Media and so on, why not take advantage?

Anyway, those are some changes I'm recommending. I'll also be moderating them with Nihil, and Joe, and even though I'm no Game guru, we have some here Believe me!

they probablt WON'T want exploits in any way shape or form, same for the scanner, but that is no reason not to make the request ......
Gore may have some good points as to the future, in that it has to encompass more, but it still comes down to the forum, it could be the best forum out there, but it is just a forum, and there days are past now.

The big crowds are into different things today, and we may not WANT the masses here, but we do NEED them

a possible alternative is to call an end to AO as is, and start off afresh with a new front end, with the old stuff, specifically the tutorials, being accessed via links to a 'sub-forum', the new face of AO to be set out in a more 'user friendly' 'intuitive' design, with 'portals' for media / music / IT in ALL its guises, so that WOULD require a little give on the part of the bill payer, as exploits, and their creation, discovery, use, detection, protection from are ALL required reading.

on a side note, I would keep the AP's
mainly cos I got a HUGE pile :P
but also because it is a sign that this is still AO

As for how this would be implemented ............. feck knows. BUt it would have to see AO up and running as is until the very last minute, then getting a few of the more senior members to 'beta' run the new set up. see if they have issues, It would not be good to be down a week as they were for the last 'upgrade'

Will it happen :?
doubt it
because in this 'brave' new world, noone wants to put pennies into a virtual world, that appears to have had its day

so it would appear we have to alter that perception first

THEN we can ask for exploits

55 - I'm fiftyfeckinfive and STILL no wiser,
OLDER yes
Beware of Geeks bearing GIF's
come and waste the day :P at The Taz Zone

Sorry to hear about the knee, and the bike..........the bike can be repaired or replaced, but as we advance in years the healing process certainly slows down

it could be the best forum out there, but it is just a forum, and their days are past now.

That's pretty much how I see it as well.................the dedicated remain but the fashion fans have moved elsewhere. Basically the novelty has worn off, and I don't see it coming back.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

one thing I don't get though, the social networking sites don't really have much in the way of conversations. I mean if you look at most people's Facebook or similar, there are usually no more than a few responses in each little string of conversation. There are no protracted discussions about anything. I think one aspect of their success is novelty based, and that will wear off also.